A social network is a social structure made up of individuals (or organizations) called “nodes” which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, beliefs or knowledge. In its simplest form, a social network is a map of specified ties, such as friendship, between the nodes being studied. The nodes to which an individual is thus connected are the social contacts of that individual. The network can also be used to measure social capital—the value that an individual gets from the social network. These concepts are often displayed in a social network diagram, where nodes are the points and the ties are the lines.
Examples of computer implemented social networks include TWITTER™, FACEBOOK™ email systems and blogs. Computer implemented social networks incorporate messaging systems that are capable of receiving and transmitting messages to client computers of participant users of the messaging systems.